SACRAMENTO — Fourth-year junior
Josephine Ough set a new career high with 11 blocks on the night, while second-year freshmen
Amara Aimufua and
Olivia Utterback posted double-digit kills in their Division I debuts, but the UC Davis women's volleyball team fell in its season opener to Causeway rival Sacramento State, 29-27, 25-22, 20-25, 26-24, on Friday night at the Hornet Nest.
After posting a pair of 10-block matches in 2019, Ough did that mark one better on Friday with her third career double-digit block performance, posting a pair of solos and nine assists.
With their true freshman seasons wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Aimufua and Utterback were impressive in their collegiate debuts, with the former posting a team-best 14 kills and hitting .242, while the latter added 13 more kills to go with nine digs and hit .243 for the match.
The duo helped the Aggies out-hit the Hornets by a .201 to .158 count on the night, with third-year sophomore
Lana Radakovic leading the way with a .600 (6-0-10) hitting percentage. Junior
Jane Seslar added a double-double with 23 assists and 14 digs, while sophomore
Shira Lahav added a team-high 18 digs.
A back-and-forth first set saw both teams work overtime, a set that featured 18 tie scores and nine lead changes before Sacramento State triumphed, 29-27. The Aggies were limited to just nine kills and a .156 hitting percentage in the second set, but rebounded to take the third, holding the Hornets to just .135 hitting en route to the 25-20 victory.
UC Davis had its best performance in the decisive fourth, hitting .281 (14-5-32) for the set, but trailed by as many as five before mounting a rally. A 9-4 run brought the Aggies even at 24-24, but back-to-back kills by Sacramento State closed out the match.
The gauntlet continues on Saturday morning (Aug. 28) at 10 a.m., as UC Davis takes on No. 6 Florida in the opening match of day two of the Hornet Invitational. The Gators are the highest-ranked team that the Aggies have faced since they met No. 5 Nebraska on Sept. 11, 2015.
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Centrally located between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, over 700 student-athletes across 25 teams enjoy an unrivaled undergraduate experience at the fifth-ranked public school in the country.
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